About Indymedia - Revised
This is the revised text for the global 'about' page. It has been started from the version on the website on 28 March 2004 and is there to be played with!! The idea is that after revising the text as needed, translations can be made and it can be uploaded onto the static pages of the website.
Actually, there is not even an agreement that the about page change should be changed. this is the idea of an individual who is not with a local IMC, and the first draft was outright rejected by imc-process, both about the content, and because such big changes should come from local imc's or working groups... /clara
IMHO, we really do need these translations. btw, clara, see my recent note about tibi at the very bottom. What do you people think?/Drone4four
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO MAKE CHANGES!!
About Indymedia
The Independent Media Center is a network of independent, collectively run media outlets, each outlet dedicated to the idea of grassroots participatory media. There were Independent Media Centers on every continent and covering more than 160 localities in June 2005. Each Independent Media Center serves as a forum for articles about events typically misrepresented or under-represented by the corporate and government-sponsored press.
This website, indymedia.org, collects together the work of thousands of media activists working in small groups without hierarchy or monetary reward. Because indymedia does not seek to profit from the news, it can cover issues without the inherent bias of a news organization run as a business. Because it works in a decentralized fashion, it can include a range of voices that cannot be heard in any single media outlet. It works to empower the members of local communities to create their own news through the radical idea of
open publishing. People everywhere are encouraged to publish news relevant to their community to their local indymedia site. Essentially, indymedia encourages people to take the press into their own hands.
The walls between the certified journalist and the people thus disappear. Indymedia provides news reported by
people who sometimes feel neglected by irresponsible, large, bureaucratic news monopolies. Direct participation by citizens fills in these gaps, reporting for themselves by themselves: We do not hate or resent the mainstream media – we make our own media.
For more details on what IMC is all about, see the faq section (
En).
Internet Communication
A large proportion of communication occurs virtually, over the internet. An index of all the mailing lists can be found at
lists.indymedia.org.
Internet Relay Chat (irc) is also used considerably: the indymedia chat server can be accessed via the web at
chat.indymedia.org, or using a specific client application.
History
Independent DIY media projects are spreading around the planet at unprecedented speed. Triggered by discontent with the news monopolies and supported by the widespread availability of media technologies, individuals and communities all over the world are creating their own channels of information and distribution in order to bypass the corporate media. The idea behind some of these projects is to create open platforms to which everyone can contribute - not just a small educated elite with assumptions about how best to manage society. By eliminating the classic division between professional producers and passive audience, many issues and discussions that were previously suppressed become visible and available.
The Independent Media Center (IMC), was established by various independent and alternative media organizations and activists in 1999 for the purpose of providing grassroots coverage of the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle. The center made innovative use of a completely open publishing system and acted as a clearinghouse of information, providing up-to-the-minute reports, photos, audio and video footage through the website. At the same time, anyone with internet access was also able to upload either text, still images, audio or video files directly. With the actions spanning several days, people could directly communicate and record their experiences, building not only one of the most complete records of political dissent ever at that time, but also providing a valuable voice amidst all the chaos and smoke; in a few days the Seattle website had received over 1.5 million ´hits´ from around the world.
Within months, this new concept of '
open-publishing' had spread, with new IMCs opening in towns, cities and countries around the world. There are now around 160 Indymedia Centers worldwide. For more information, see the IMC Frequently Asked Questions -
En. There is also information regarding the Indymedia Network and legal threats on the
FBI page.
Security on global Indymedia website
Since the change of software, the global Indymedia website makes use of a secure publishing server, from which pages are then mirrored on a number of other servers around the world. Consequently, when trying to publish an article
- NOTE: this section needs to be finished
- NOTE: this was meant to be an explanation of what happens when people try to publish something (e.g. translations) and they get a warning about the secure server. it's not giving away internal secrets or anything!! -- GarconDuMonde - 06 Jun 2005
- NOTE see the UkSecurity page for an example of what this section should be like. alternatively, maybe we need an entire page on the global site, like the uk site has...? -- GarconDuMonde - 10 Jun 2005
- NOTE Garcon, could you try working with this maybe?: The Indymedia security operators wish to make browsing the site and posting articles anonymous as possible. To avoid unlikley but possible wasteful state surveileance of your behaviour, the Indymedia techincal security team are dedicated to protecting your privacy rights. For details on our efforts, see this link: http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/UkSecurity#Why_is_this_important . -- DanielWight? - 11 Jun 2005
Word Definitions and/or Origins
1. "news monopolies" instead of "mainstream media":
commentary posted at portland indymedia
-- Main.
SashaCostanzaChock? - 14 June 2005: I replaced the two instances of the term 'citizens' with 'people' because citizen is a category of membership in a state. Not only do many IMCistas
not identify with a state, many of us are, or are in solidarity with, people in situations of 'non' or liminal citizenship: sans-papiers, so-called 'illegal' migrants, undocumented workers, clandestinos, fugitives, refugees, etc.
DanielWight? - 10 June 2005 I removed the following becasue it was redundant and also clara and i felt it was not representative of indymedia as a whole:
why is the stuff below intended to go on indymedia.org?
i feel the same way, wtf? this is too specific and does not consider the international and global reach that indymedia has.
/Drone4four
[Heading] The global Indymedia website
In November, 2003, the global Indymedia website moved servers. At the same time, the software used to code the site was changed to allow for more features - particularly, the introduction of translations. Since then, the website has continued to improve and is becoming a truly multinational site, with the introduction of the first non-roman alphabet language (Greek) in October 2004.
Most of the work on maintaining the site and posting features is done by an open collective which is coordinated via email lists (
www-features [En + all other language aside from Es] and
www-editoriales [Es]) and internet relay chat (irc) in the channel #features on [[http://chat.indymedia.org]irc.indymedia.org]].
For further information, please see the following pages:
--
DanielWight? - 10 June 2005 for Chekov -- I myself included "we do not resent news monopolies" for 2 reasons:
1.becasue resentment is an emotion closeley related to hatred. Any anarchist who hates thier master will always do so forever ...instead of creating progessive, positive and constructive alternatives (e.g. achiening valuable concessions).
2.becasue the FBI and the state characterize terrorists as being -full of resent-. To avoid suspicion from the state, by including that senetence gives Indymedia and activists a better reputation bydistinguishing our views as closer to public opinion instead of fanatical hatred.
I'd like to continue this conversation with anyone interested (especially Chekov). Feel free to PM me on irc.indymedia.org #blag, #features or #tech --> my nickname is usually Drone4four or maybe Invert
--
QuintenSteenhuis - 09 Jun 2005 Chekov -- a suggestion: add your own statement as well. There are definitely different opinions on that subject within Indymedia, and hopefully a new about page could reflect that. Why not say "some people feel neglected and others are pissed off." Or something along those lines...
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ChekovFeeney - 09 Jun 2005 Just a comment to say that it might be a good idea to discuss this on imc-communication at some stage in general terms, and to say that I disagree almost entirely with the second and third paragraphs. We "sometimes feel neglected" by large corporations????? We "don't resent" them as they destroy the planet and lie about it???? We define ourselves as citizens???? One of the problems of collaborative editing is that it only works when there is a decent level of basic conceptual agreement - I can't contribute as I'd choose to rewrite or delete that entire section. Sorry (1 of indymedia.ie)
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GarconDuMonde - 06 Jun 2005 removed link to wto - we're not meant to be supporting them! also made a few other small changes, eg. indicating the faq link was in english
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BenHadTue - 01 Jun 2005 i also added the defintions section, right now mostly for ourselves so that we can look at where the words we use come from, but I think could also be nice to have something similar actually included. not beholden to it.
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BenHadTue - 01 Jun 2005 in the first paragraphs i made indymedia its own person, instead of using words like "us" i used words like "it". I also changed "mainstream media" to "news monopolies" because the corporate media and the news monopolies are not the mainstream media everywhere. There are communities that have successfully averted the evil. It is important to think and project the intentions we hold in the documentents that are supposedly representative of us all. I also dont know why anything below the history of IMC (as presented here) should be included. I know that posting security issues whether they are good or bad on an extremely public site like indy.org is only a gateway for trouble.
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AndresFuerte - 04 Jun 2005 Restored my changes made yesterday, maintaining Drone4four's remark
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DanielWight? - 04 Jun 2005 Andres, lol, sorry for the quote. I forget exactly who on irc gave it to me, but I altered it a little for grammar and to make things more clear --> so it's really not a quote anymore. I just took the quotes out, is that alright? As you said, you'd like to change mainstream media to media monopolies, but i think demonstrating that what's mainstream sometimes includes public interest. I'd prefer to keep "mainstream" in here, but in all other locations "news monopolies " is better. that is all IMHO, so if you and others wish t ochange it, go ahead, this is just my opinion.
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DanielWight? - 04 Jun 2005 one more note, I fucken LOVE the first paragrah in the new history section. btw
DanielWight? = Drone4four for ppl who recognize me from irc =D
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AndresFuerte - 03 Jun 2005 --> Changed "in 160 cities" to "covering more than 160 localities in June 2005" (not all imcs are city-based now - eg. country imcs and projects like imc-estrecho that cover regions and cross frontiers). Cleaned up the third paragraph under About Indymedia, removing the phrase "in our precious and near delicate democracy" - not applicable, for various reasons, everywhere in the world. Added reference to direct participation. Question: "We do not hate or resent the mainstream media – because we become the media" - Where does this quote come from? Could it be modified to read more like: "We do not hate or resent the media monopolies -- we make our own media."?
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DanielWight? - 3 June 2005 --> I added tibi's cry for the empahsis on citizens participation as mentioned at
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/www-features/2005-June/0601-vk.html
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DanielWight? - 26 May 2005 i removed all that dialogue bewteen Quiten and I in the centre.
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DanielWight? - 10 April 2005 thanks Quinten..., i really like all of it..now: how can we make this the official about section? what is the next step to making these changes offical?? =D
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QuintenSteenhuis - 24 Mar 2005 - Did some cleanup, tried incorporating more of Daniel's revision.
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DanielWight? - 22 Mar 2005 i added Internet Communication header becasue i remmeber that was one of the first problems that i had with
IndyMedia?'s website.. i think irc contact information is neccessary. so pleasse no one take it out
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DanielWight? - 22 Mar 2005 i added a lot of information beneath the about header and then informed #tech on irc.indymedia about my proposed revsion which generated a lengthy debate. at this point, quinton added a whole bunch of stuff and then i revised a few bitz..see my notes
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GarconDuMonde - 15 Jan 2005
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GarconDuMonde - 28 Mar 2004
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